Pete Hegseth unwittingly reveals controversial new tattoo

Eagle-eyed observers of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth tapestry of tattoos noticed a never-seen-before Arabic script underneath his arm.

Hegseth posted an image of himself doing jumping jacks and push-ups with Navy Seals at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on Tuesday. 

It comes as he is facing mounting pressure to resign after sharing detailed Yemen strike plans in a group text chat with other Trump officials on the Signal app. 

Hegseth has brushed off the controversy, saying that the chat did not include classified information. Now, he is in Guam and Hawaii on a trip to visit U.S. troops.  

The new tattoo revealed in the video features the Arabic word ‘kafir,’ which in the Quran means ‘disbeliever’ or ‘infidel’ and is inked below hegseth’s ‘Deus Vult’ tattoo. 

The discovery sparked anger from activists who are already infuriated about his tattoos featuring Christian and American images. 

‘Hegseth just got a kafir (كافر) tattoo under his Deus Vult tattoo—a Crusader slogan. This isn’t just a personal choice; it’s a clear symbol of Islamophobia from the man overseeing U.S. wars,’ wrote Nerdeen Kiswani, a pro-Palestinian activist in New York City on social media. 

Kiswani described the tattoos as the ‘normalization of Islamophobia at the highest levels of power.’ 

Others on social media felt similarly about the tattoo.

‘The كافر/kafir tattoo in the Quran means disbeliever,’ wrote writer Tam Hussein on X. ‘To the Muslim world the tattoo will be seen as an open declaration of Hegseth’s enmity towards them.’

Others defended the tattoo as a common word used by veterans of Middle Eastern wars.

‘This word is widely recognized among military veterans, especially those who served in the Middle East, as a symbol of defiance against Islamic terrorists,’ wrote X user ‘Brother Rachid.’ ‘It’s commonly seen on stickers, the backs of trucks, T-shirts, and mugs. Personally, I had it on a hat, a mug, and even on the door of my office.’

‘Muslims should not be offended or shocked at Pete Hegseth‘s new ‘kafir’ tattoo or his crusader ‘Deus Vult’ tattoo,’ wrote X user Dilly Hussain of a UK-based news site 5 Pillars UK. ‘He’s merely displaying America’s foreign policy and mindset to Islam and Muslims.’ 

It is unclear whether the tattoo is new, as it is inked underneath his arm where it may simply have not been noticed before. 

The Department of Defense did not respond to a DailyMail.com request for comment. 

The veteran, who served tours in both Afghanistan and Iraq and is a double Bronze Star holder, has a total of over a dozen tattoos across his right arm and chest. 

His chest tattoo of a Jerusalem Cross previously sparked controversy after he was nominated for Defense Secretary as Democrats claimed it was a Christian right-wing extremist symbol. 

Hegseth said he was denied a chance to serve in a secure detail in his National Guard unit in Washington DC because of that tattoo. 

‘I was deemed an extremist because of a tattoo by my National Guard unit in Washington, D.C., and my orders were revoked to guard the Biden inauguration… a Jerusalem cross tattoo which is just a Christian symbol,’ he told podcaster Shawn Ryan in an interview. 

Hegseth said he liked tattoos while he was growing up but refrained from doing so by his father, a basketball coach.  

‘I always wanted tattoos. Thankfully, my father dissuaded me early in life because what I wanted out of high school was a basketball hoop with a flaming basketball going through the hoop,’ he said in a 2020 interview. 

Hegseth said his first tattoo was a ‘spur-of-the-moment’ decision after his wife Jen decided to get a small tattoo on her left bicep.

‘I knew inside my soul this was something I wanted to do and I’ve finally hit the chapter in my life that I’m able to do it,’ he said, revealing he was 37 or 38 when he got his first tattoo. 

Most of Hegseth’s other tattoos represent his Christian faith, his American patriotism and his service in the US military.

‘Israel, Christianity and my faith are things I care deeply about,’ he said. 

Here is a list of his other tattoos:  

Jerusalem Cross on his chest

The aforementioned Jerusalem Cross is one of his most distinctive tattoo. It consists of a large Christian cross surrounded by four smaller crosses in each quadrant.

It is an centuries old symbol stretching back to the 13th century where it was used as the symbol of the Kingdom of Jerusalem during the Crusades. 

‘Deus Vult’ on his bicep

Tattooed on his bicep, Hegseth has the phrase ‘Deus Vult’ which means ‘God will it.’ This was a phrase that originated from the First Crusade as a battle cry for Christians. 

Hegseth’s book American Crusade, which he describes as a examination of what America would be like without American ideal,  also ends with ‘Deus Vult.’ 

Cross and sword on forearm

Other Christian iconography on his arm include a cross with a sword through it which represents the Matthew 10:34 verse of the bible. 

This reads: ‘Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.’

This was the first tattoo he got while on vacation with his family. 

Hegseth also has a Chi-Ro symbol on his upper arm. This letters from the Greek alphabet: chi (which looks like an X) and rho (which looks like a P). They are also the first two letters of Christ in Greek. The monogram was a an early symbol used to represent Christians. 

‘We the people’ and 1775 also on forearm

His other tattoos mostly center around American patriotism and include many symbols and iconography associated with the USA’s independence movement. 

On his forearm he has ‘We the People’ which is the first line of the constitution. 

Above this tattoo he has the date 1775 in roman numerals – the same year that the American War of Independence started.

Hegseth’s elbow is surrounded by 13 stars which perhaps is a reference to the stars on the Betsy Ross flag – one of the first flags produced to represent the USA and the precursor to the moden star spangled banner.

‘Join or Die’ snake on inside of his forearm

He also has the iconic ‘join or die’ snake, which is earliest known pictorial representation of colonial union produced by colonists in Colonial America, on his arm. 

The cartoon, allegedly drawn by Benjamin Franklin himself in 1754, was published in the Pennsylvania Gazette  shows a snake chopped into eight segments – rather than the 13 colonies – with New England included as one, Delaware a part of Pennsylvania and Georgia missing entirely. 

American flag and sniper rifle on the upper arm

Hegseth also has a modern depiction of the current flag with a sniper at the bottom of the stars and stripes, signaling his support for the Second Amendment of the Constitutional preserving the right to keep and bear arms. 

Hegseth posted a picture of him receiving the body art on his Instagram at NYHC Tattoos in New York which is one of the oldest tattoo parlours in Manhattan.

Infantry Regiment patch also on the upper arm

Hegseth also has a tattoo of his patch used by the 187th Infantry Regiment of the US army which Hegseth was a member of. 

This was a glider infantry unit during the Second World War which later fought in the Korean War as part of the airborne regimental combat team. The regiment also fought in later wars such as Vietnam, the Gulf war and the Iraq war. 

During his interview with the Big Lead, Hegseth revealed he plans to fill his entire arm with tattoos and then ‘resist the temptation’ to get anymore.